''Austrocallerya'' is a genus of

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (). The term angiosperm is derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek words (; 'container, vessel') and (; 'seed'), meaning that the seeds are enclosed with ...

s belonging to the subfamily

Faboideae The Faboideae are a subfamily of the flowering plant family Fabaceae or Leguminosae. An acceptable alternative name for the subfamily is Papilionoideae, or Papilionaceae when this group of plants is treated as a family. This subfamily is widely ...

in the family

Fabaceae Fabaceae () or Leguminosae,International Code of Nomen ...

. They are robust, twining woody

vine A vine is any plant with a growth habit of trailing or scandent (that is, climbing) stems, lianas, or runners. The word ''vine'' can also refer to such stems or runners themselves, for instance, when used in wicker work.Jackson; Benjamin; Da ...

s. Its native range is from

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; , fossilized , also known as Papua or historically ) is the List of islands by area, world's second-largest island, with an area of . Located in Melanesia in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is ...

to eastern Australia and islands in the

Southern Pacific The Southern Pacific (or Espee from the railroad initials) was an American Class I railroad network that existed from 1865 to 1996 and operated largely in the Western United States. The system was operated by various companies under the names ...

Description

Species of ''Austrocallerya'' are a robust twining woody

s, reaching high. The mature stems have flaky, peeling bark. The leaves are evergreen and generally have 4–18 paired leaflets plus a terminal leaflet. The leaflets are long by wide. The robust

inflorescence In botany, an inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a plant's Plant stem, stem that is composed of a main branch or a system of branches. An inflorescence is categorized on the basis of the arrangement of flowers on a mai ...

is a many-flowered terminal

panicle In botany, a panicle is a much-branched inflorescence. (softcover ). Some authors distinguish it from a compound spike inflorescence, by requiring that the flowers (and fruit) be pedicellate (having a single stem per flower). The branches of a p ...

, long. The individual flowers are long and have the general shape of members of the subfamily

. The standard

petal Petals are modified leaves that form an inner whorl surrounding the reproductive parts of flowers. They are often brightly coloured or unusually shaped to attract pollinators. All of the petals of a flower are collectively known as the ''corol ...

is long by wide and of various colours from whitish to purple, with a greenish yellow or lime green nectar guide. The purple or maroon wing petals are equal in length to the keel at long by wide, with short basal claws. The keel petals are long by wide, united into a cup. They are dark reddish, purple or maroon in two of the species and white with purple tips in ''A. megasperma''. Nine of the

stamen The stamen (: stamina or stamens) is a part consisting of the male reproductive organs of a flower. Collectively, the stamens form the androecium., p. 10 Morphology and terminology A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filament ...

s are fused together, the other is free; all curve upwards at the apex. The inflated seed pods are long by wide, with hollow cavities holding generally 2–6 seeds.

Taxonomy

In 1912,

Stephen Troyte Dunn Stephen Troyte Dunn (26 August 1868, Bristol - 18 April, 1938, Sheen, Surrey, England) was a British botanist. He described and systematized a significant number of plants around the world, his input most noticeable in the Taxonomy (biology), ta ...

recognized the distinctiveness of three

Australasia Australasia is a subregion of Oceania, comprising Australia, New Zealand (overlapping with Polynesia), and sometimes including New Guinea and surrounding islands (overlapping with Melanesia). The term is used in a number of different context ...

n species then placed in the genus ''

Millettia ''Millettia'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Fabaceae. It consists of about 169 species of shrubs, lianas or trees, which are native to tropical and subtropical regions of sub-Saharan Africa, the Indian subcontinent, Indochina, sout ...

'', and created a separate section, ''Austromillettia'', for them. A 2019

molecular phylogenetic Molecular phylogenetics () is the branch of phylogeny that analyzes genetic, hereditary molecular differences, predominantly in DNA sequences, to gain information on an organism's evolutionary relationships. From these analyses, it is possible to ...

study found that the three species did not belong either in the genus ''Millettia'' or in the genus ''

Callerya ''Callerya'' is a genus of flowering plants in the legume family, Fabaceae. It belongs to the subfamily Faboideae, tribe Wisterieae. It includes 12 species native to the eastern Himalayas, Indochina, southern China and Taiwan, and Peninsular Mala ...

'' where they had later been placed, but instead formed a distinct clade, sister to ''

Padbruggea ''Padbruggea'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Fabaceae. Its native range stretches from southern China to western Malesia. Description ''Padbruggea'' species are scrambling climbers, reaching heights of up to . Their stems are dark ...

'', within a newly expanded tribe

Wisterieae Wisterieae is a tribe of flowering plants in the bean family Fabaceae. The tribe was first described in 1994 for the sole genus ''Wisteria'', but was greatly expanded in 2019 to include 13 genera, six of which were new. Five had previously been p ...

. Accordingly, the genus ''Austrocallerya'' was established. The genus name refers to the southern hemisphere distribution of the species and their former placement in ''Callerya''. ''Austrocallerya'' species can be distinguished from ''Padbruggea'' by a number of features, including the more upright

s, the broader standard petals, and the more linear seed pods.

Species

Plants of the World Online Plants of the World Online (POWO) is an online taxonomic database published by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. History Following the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew launched Plants of the World Online i ...

accepted three species: *''

Austrocallerya australis ''Austrocallerya australis'', commonly known as native wisteria, blunt wisteria or Samson's sinew in Australia, is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae, native to north-eastern Australia, New Guinea and some Pacific Islands. It is ...

'' *''

Austrocallerya megasperma ''Austrocallerya megasperma'', one of several species commonly known as native wisteria, is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae and is endemic to eastern Australia. It is a woody climber with pinnate leaves and racemes of purpl ...

'' *''

Austrocallerya pilipes ''Austrocallerya pilipes'', synonym ''Callerya pilipes'', is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae, endemic to Queensland, Australia. It is a robust twining vine, climbing up trees and shrubs. It is known as the northern wistaria. ...

Distribution

''Austrocallerya'' species are native to

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

and

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

in eastern Australia, and various islands in the

(the

Cook Islands The Cook Islands is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It consists of 15 islands whose total land area is approximately . The Cook Islands' Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) covers of ocean. Avarua is its ...

New Caledonia New Caledonia ( ; ) is a group of islands in the southwest Pacific Ocean, southwest of Vanuatu and east of Australia. Located from Metropolitan France, it forms a Overseas France#Sui generis collectivity, ''sui generis'' collectivity of t ...

Norfolk Island Norfolk Island ( , ; ) is an States and territories of Australia, external territory of Australia located in the Pacific Ocean between New Zealand and New Caledonia, directly east of Australia's Evans Head, New South Wales, Evans Head and a ...

, the

Solomon Islands Solomon Islands, also known simply as the Solomons,John Prados, ''Islands of Destiny'', Dutton Caliber, 2012, p,20 and passim is an island country consisting of six major islands and over 1000 smaller islands in Melanesia, part of Oceania, t ...

, the

Tuamotus The Tuamotu Archipelago or the Tuamotu Islands (, officially ) are a French Polynesian chain of just under 80 islands and atolls in the southern Pacific Ocean. They constitute the largest chain of atolls in the world, extending (from northwest to ...

and

Tubuai Tupuai ( ) is the main island of the Austral Island group, located south of Tahiti. In addition to Tubuai, the group of islands include Rimatara, Rurutu, Raivavae, Rapa and the uninhabited Îles Maria. They are part of the Austral Islands ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q93748410 Wisterieae Fabaceae genera